Within the wake of one other disappointing playoff exit, the Bills are making a change on the sidelines. Sean McDermott is out, as first reported by Tom Pelissero, Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
General manager Brandon Beane will remain in place, Rapoport adds. He’ll help lead the seek for McDermott’s substitute. Buffalo has now turn out to be the tenth team within the NFL to make a head coaching change through the 2026 offseason. The remaining of the Bills’ staff was being informed of the news when it broke, per The Exhibit’s Josina Anderson.
McDermott arrived in Buffalo in 2017. His tenure has been defined largely by sustained success within the regular season, with the Bills reaching the playoffs all but once and posting double-digit wins in each of the past seven years. Despite the supply and high level of play produced by quarterback Josh Allen, nevertheless, McDermott’s teams have yet to interrupt through within the postseason. The franchise will look to accomplish that with a brand new voice on the sidelines.
Allen and McDermott have won a complete of eight playoff games together. That’s essentially the most in NFL history by a HC-QB tandem which has failed to succeed in a Super Bowl (h/t WFAA’s Ed Werder). A path to ending that streak of shortcomings appeared to exist during this 12 months’s playoffs specifically, with Patrick Mahomes‘ Chiefs, Lamar Jackson‘s Ravens and Joe Burrow‘s Bengals all missing the tournament. Nevertheless, an extra time loss in Denver on Saturday marked one other loss within the divisional round for the Bills.
A turnover-filled performance on Allen’s part was a significant component on this 12 months’s Buffalo exit. Overall, though, underwhelming showings on defense were seen on multiple postseason occasions over time during McDermott’s Buffalo tenure. Given his background as a defensive coordinator, that increasingly became a talking point with respect to McDermott’s job security. A firing on this case adds further to the noteworthy changing of the guard on the subject of multiple AFC teams known for stability.
Today’s McDermott news doesn’t entirely come as a surprise, nevertheless. Entering the wild-card round, the Bills and Packers were named as potential John Harbaugh suitors. Green Bay wound up reaching an extension agreement with Matt LaFleur recently, but Buffalo has elected to take the choice route. Harbaugh has already made his decision, officially taking over the Giants’ HC gig this past weekend. Kevin Stefanski can also be off the board, since he’s now with the Falcons.
Buffalo now joins the list of destinations for HC candidates. With Allen and a core of players attached to long-term extensions (signed, in lots of cases, last offseason), the Bills will little question be seen as certainly one of the more attractive landing spots for staffers. Once a hire is made, Allen will begin the technique of adapting to a brand new head coach for the primary time in his profession.
After their run of 4 straight Super Bowl losses under Marv Levy, sustained success proved difficult to achieve for the Bills. Seven different full-time head coaches were in place until McDermott’s hire. His arrival helped spark a run which included five consecutive AFC East titles. Overall, McDermott posted a record of 98-50 within the regular season and 8-8 within the playoffs.
Beane, like McDermott, worked with the Panthers before coming to the Bills nine years ago. His tenure has overlapped with most of the team’s best accomplishments in recent memory, sparked in fact by the choice to draft Allen in 2018. Beane has drawn criticism for elements of his roster-building approach, though, and in 2025 specifically his actions (or lack thereof) on the receiver position were a fundamental talking point. Nonetheless, Buffalo has opted for stability within the front office moving forward.
Lengthy HC tenures in Baltimore (Harbaugh) and Pittsburgh (Mike Tomlin) recently got here to an end. With McDermott now out as well, the AFC will look far different on the sidelines when the 2026 season kicks off. Meanwhile, McDermott’s next move will turn out to be certainly one of the highest storylines across the league because the coaching landscape takes shape.